Saying Meritocracy and Doing Privilege

Abstract

This article describes the relationship between saying and doing. It argues that focusing on the discrepancy between participants’ accounts and their actions is one of the greatest analytical strengths of ethnography. We make this case by drawing upon an ethnography of an elite boarding school. We also reflect on the way that two ethnographers worked together to better understand the social significance of accounts that are incongruent with situated behavior. We conclude by arguing that qualitative researchers must be more sensitive to the different kinds of claims that can be made with interview versus observational data.

Mastering the jazz standard: Sayings and doings of artistic valuation

“…Pursuing an analytical distinction between "doings" and "sayings" has been done by Schatzki (2012) and Khan and Jerolmack (2013). Though it is not my intention to follow Schatzki's full ontology, there are many affirmatives between his philosophy of "bundles of action" and Bourdieu's praxeology, the most obvious one being the emphasis on practices and its interconnectivity (see also Schatzki et al (eds.…”

“…by focusing on incongruities rather then interconnection. Khan and Jerolmack (2013) exemplify this approach by contrasting the meritocratic discourse of elite education with the underlying material privileges that tend to condition successful educational careers.…”

“…), 2000). Khan and Jerolmack (2013) have argued that the methodological distinction between sayings and doings is particularly useful in ethnographic research as it helps us unravel the discrepancies between what people say they do and what they actually do, i.e. by focusing on incongruities rather then interconnection.…”

“…In what seems like a single moment, all the hours devoted to musical practice, training, and jamming with friends are suddenly evaluated at once. The principal analytical distinction of social practice that will be perused here is between sayings and doings (Schatzki, 2012;Khan and Jerolmack, 2013). What is said about the selection is predominantly analyzed through interviews and evaluatory deliberations; whereas what the gatekeepers do in order to objectify the quality of the performances and reach agreements will rely on field-observations and notes taken during the course of action.…”

Meritocracy as Plutocracy: The Marketising of 'Equality' Under Neoliberalism

“…These are elites 'saying meritocracy but doing the ease of privilege'. 71 Similarly, the coalition's investment in 'hard work' is classed: it is coded as 'graft' even when it's being voiced by million/billionaires, celebrities and children at elite private fee-paying schools. This is not completely new: it was a key element in the rhetoric of Thatcherism as well as Blairism.…”